After the storm
by cc671
Summary: A storm the riders could not outrun left one of them injured and in need of help.
1. Chapter 1

I don´t own anything. Sorry, English is not my first language. Hope you enjoy the story anyway.

The wind was blowing up harder, and the dust and sand travelling violently made itself annoying. Three riders were fighting with the conditions. Coming back from an errand for the Pony Express, where they worked, Buck, Cody and Kid hadn´t been able to outrun the storm.

"We must find a shelter!" Kid patted Katy on the neck, as they all stopped to check the terrain. "There, we could go to that ravine". Buck stated, kicking his horse forward. Cody took the rear, trying to calm his horse, which was becoming very agitated.

Although being noon, the sky turned very dark. Buck and Kid already have dismounted, and begun to descend a slope. At that moment, a harsh sound make them cringe as a lightning landed on a tree not far away from Cody´s horse, which panicked. Te rain had started just a few minutes before, but everything was already damped. As the horse hooped up and then lifted his upper body, Cody lost his wet grip. A surprised gasp left his throat. His body fell hard on the muddy but rocky floor. The horse lost its footing, and landed atop of him. The animal weight stole all his air and pinned him down, just briefly, but a sharp protuberance on the stone below him ripped the flesh on his back and penetrated deep. The horse stood quickly, hitting Cody with its hooves in the process. A muffled moan left the rider´s lips, who just lay still due to pain and lack of oxygen.


	2. Chapter 2

Sharp intakes and outtakes of air left his mouth, and a clouded vision didn´t help any to clear the gap that was in his mind, disoriented by the sudden of the events. Isolated sensations made him remember with what ease a body can be beaten, and with the same ease common things can be felt differently according to the circumstances. Cold, and heat. The cold. The cold of the raindrops that fell upon his face as pointing needles, same drops that bonded his clothes to his body, same drops that in its size and force made him flinch. The heat. What in the world was that in his back. It burned like hell and hurt a lot. A pain that seemed to start somewhere near his left kidney, but also had decided to travel all the way up until the homoplasy, and then set on fire all his back. And then, the cold again. Something cold touched his brow. As focused as he was on the heat, the new sensation made him turn away. How confusing all of this was. It was hard to understand. The cold thing made itself present again, and stroked his hair back from his eyes. Now he preferred the cold than the heat. It turned from something annoying to something somewhat comforting. The heat continued being hurtful all the time, and, as he was becoming more responsive to the cold, it didn´t want to lose terrain, so it stroked back with ferocity, obliging his breath to stop, and then to take a sharp and violent intake of air. At the sudden movement, two broken lower ribs made him feel as if his upper abdomen exploded. The extremely painful and burning sensation put him on the verge of passing out. It had reached a point he could take it no more. The heat had won, and left him panting miserably. Something cold again, titled his head to the side. He encouraged himself to open his eyes, to look and find that source of comfort. Hands. Te caring hands of his friends. As if in a dream he heard a voice. It was commanding something, he could not figure out what it was. He wasn´t able to understand, the pain was defeating his remaining strength. He felt one last thing, hands grabbing his arms and legs, lifting him from the wet floor. The movement was the break point. So he felt himself go, felt himself losing the battle against darkness, which at least, embraced him with a very welcome painless state.


	3. Chapter 3

The storm was finally losing its force, and the wind placating its voice. The large defined raindrops decided to turn into a thick drizzle. But yet, the heartbeats couldn´t change their accelerated rhythm. The violent events stole their quietness. It seemed now that all happened as a slap, on a second, on the blink of an eye. The angry cries of the weather that just minutes ago threatened them with its rage, now gave way to the sound of nature regaining its composure again. But there was also another sound. A human sound. The sound of erratic breathing. Kneeling beside their friend, the two young riders tried to test what to do next. "Cody? Open your eyes". As Kid touched his brow Cody turned his head away, the agitated breathing increasing. "Do you think we could move him?" Buck and Kid´s eyes met, both emanating worry and uncertainty. "I think he may have some broken ribs." Kid reached again and placed his hand on Cody´s brow, moving the tufts of wet hair out of his eyes. At the same time, Buck begun to lightly test the ribs, one by one. As he reached the last two lower left ribs, Cody´s breath stopped sharply and a raw groan mixed with a cry left his mouth, leaving him panting irregularly. "At least two" Buck looked at the Kid. They had to decide what to do. "We could go back, to that ranch we saw a few miles behind and seek help and shelter, then we´ll see". The storm had hit them three hours after they left the town where they concluded the errand, it could be said at the beginning of the return journey, because the complete trip back would take two days. So the closest help would be found on that town. Buck knew this, so he decided that the best was to go back, but he also knew that three hours were too much for someone with broken ribs to travel on horseback. So it seemed the best option to look for help at that ranch house. The kid had reached the same conclusion. "Cody, we are going back, are you with us?" He titled Cody´s head to his side, to see if he was alert. He was not, only a pain filled glance focused for a second on his hand, only to be lost again under two heavy eyelids. A look at each other was enough. An unspoken agreement could be read on their determined movements, as both friends stood up. "Let's be careful." As he said so, Kid motioned Buck to grab Cody´s legs, while he started to lift the shoulders to grab Cody under the arms. As he lowered his hands, something wet, but also warm and thick damped his fingers. Bending down, he was shocked to find blood, quite an amount of it, covering a big part of Cody´s back. Buck, without noticing this, has started to stand up, but stopped abruptly as he saw Kid unmoving and with an unreadable but not pleasant expression on his face. At that moment, the tense body of their friend lost all its resistance, as it relaxed after passing out. Buck let go of the legs and bending down next to the Kid found the cause of his friend´s lack of response and his own shocked expression.


End file.
